If Apple was looking to gain larger market share in India then its latest iPhones may not do it for the iconic brand. The latest iPhones from Apple – 5S and 5C – could still woo loyalists but the pricing makes it beyond the reach of most smartphone users.

The phones will hit Indian retail shelves on November 1, just two days before the Diwali. The 5S model starts at Rs 53,500 and the 5C starts at Rs 42,000.

Rohit Sane, Executive Editor, at tech blog techfreakstuff.com, tweeted “Don’t sell your kidneys for buying the iPhone 5C or 5S in India, coz even if you sell both of them you won’t have enough money to buy it!”

“I will not buy an expensive phone anyway. I think only people who consider Apple a religion will buy,” Kritika Gautam, a Delhi-based research associate said. Other potential buyers said that they might not buy an expensive smartphone, just for a ‘limited upgrades’.

However, the company is hoping that the festive shoppers could lift sales. In the international market, Apple sold nearly 9 million phones within three days of launching the new models in September. But in the US, Apple phones are subsidised by telecom companies under long-term tariff plans.

In India, while Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are the first to sell the new iPhone models, there are no discounts or subsidy.

Rs 71,500 for 64-GB model

The iPhone 5S will come in gold, silver or space grey colours for Rs 53,500 for the 16-GB model, Rs 62,500 for the 32-GB model and Rs 71,500 for the 64-GB model.

The iPhone 5C will be available in blue, green, pink, yellow and white for Rs 41,900 for the 16-GB model and Rs 53,500 for the 32-GB model, the company said.

>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in

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